Winter Vomiting Virus and Busy A&E

Newsdate: 13 January 2013

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust can confirm that there are a number of patients on one of the wards at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary with diarrhoea and vomiting virus and some members of staff have also been affected. It has been necessary to close the ward, Orrell Ward, to new patient admissions in order to contain the outbreak.

Unfortunately, Wigan as a community is currently experiencing a rise in diarrhoea and vomiting. Therefore, the Trust and Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group are appealing to members of the public to be sensible and would advise that anyone that has signs and/or symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting should not visit the hospital in order to protect the patients and staff.

It is particularly important for people to use good hand washing and other hygienic practices as a matter of routine as this will help stop the spread of further infection.

Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group is advising members of the public with symptoms to eat small amounts of food and drink water frequently to stay hydrated. The virus is normally a 36-48 hour bug and does not usually require medical intervention. However, further advice on how to treat diarrhoea and vomiting can be obtained from NHS111 on telephone number 111.

Pauline Jones, Director of Nursing at WWL says: “We are asking member of the public to be sensible and not visit the hospital if you have any symptoms. This advice is being given in order to limit the risk of visiting relatives acquiring the diarrhoea and vomiting virus. Similarly any relatives who have symptoms of this sort should not visit their relatives as they could infect them”.

The A&E department at Wigan Infirmary is currently extremely busy at the moment. All of us will benefit if we can give urgent and emergency care to the people most in need. We need the public to think twice and make sure they choose the right service for minor illnesses, ailments and injuries. The public should only attend A&E if they have a serious health condition or in a genuine emergency.

We want to ensure all patients receive the right care, at the right time and in the right location. And A&E is not the right choice for minor conditions. Instead, we are advising that people make an appointment with their GP or visit Leigh Walk-in Centre. If you need non-emergency medical help outside of your GP opening hours, please contact the Out-of-Hours service on 01942 829911.